Tag Archives: criticism

More Rejection

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I had another rejection this morning. That’s two this month, though as it was a month of pushing the boundaries it’s not a surprise. I had four earlier in the year (three of which were actually competition entries). Over the years I have not had much luck with competitions – I’ve been commended twice, which is better than  nothing, but not great when you consider the cost of entry fees. As I said before, I have learned to cope with rejection over the years. I’m still no farter on with my thinking about the direction to take and the effort to put in.

I know I should be concentrating on writing haiku until I get better at them but I have two problems here. One is that I don’t actually know what “better” is. A lot of haiku I read don’t seem any better than mine, and in many cases feature things which, according to the various “guidelines” shouldn’t be in haiku (remember they very small poems with very large mounts of rules.) An editor i was in correspondence with recently told me that when they started writing haiku they decided which rules they were going to adopt and just kept plugging away. I might do that. Or I might just relegate haiku to something I do to fill in time on a slow month.

The other problem is that I like being published (though it’s not the driving force it used to be) and I’m lazy. I may as well write what I enjoy and what I’m good at. If I were being paid for poetry that’s definitely what I would do.

However, I don’t need to make a decision yet.

This morning I printed out four poems which I am sending to a magazine that sticks to the old-fashioned ways, including submissions by post. After printing and before sending off, I looked at them and realised the top one was a long way from “finished”. The second one was so bad it immediately provoked me into making notes on it. I didn’t follow up, as I had to get to work, but it was an interesting lesson. I suspect that reading words printed on paper, instead of on a screen,  triggers a new set of critical thoughts. Tomorrow I will set to revising. I may have to start printing everything out in future.

Now it’s time to get some work done and go to bed. I have a blood test at 7am so I need to get some sleep.

My Orange Parker Pen

Insoles, rissoles and an annoying person

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I’ve reached that point in life when I’m able to carry on a conversation with my father on the subject of feet. I don’t remember how it happened, but it crept up on me like moss invading an ancient stone. First we started talking instead of arguing, which took about 30 years, then people started telling me I was just like my dad (not a compliment, I assure you) and finally we drifted onto middle-aged topics, like how Saga insurance isn’t as cheap as the adverts lead you to believe and the effectiveness of foam insoles in helping with foot pain. I won’t go too far into plantar faciitis but if you’re fat and forty you probably already know about it. After having a steroid injection in the sole of my foot (which made things worse for three days – exactly how the doctor described it) mine cleared up but I’ve used various insoles since. I like the ones from the £1 shop. They seem to do the same as the ones from the sports shop but for a lot less money.

I’ve also reached a time in life when cheap food is of great interest to me. If I want to carry on with my low stress lifestyle and survive to retirement without getting a proper job I’m going to have to make economies. Getting rid of the kids was one way, but they seem to have drifted back so that idea is clearly doomed. So it’s rissoles. I’ve seen them recently when looking at wartime recipes and it brought back memories from my childhood.

We had an Aga in those days, an aluminium 1950s kitchen in cream and red (though I’m not sure it was actually English Rose – the shapes were different) and even a servant’s bedroom in the attic.

It was a great place to grow up and the lack of heating, smouldering electrical faults and masonary bees didn’t bother a child.

We also had rissoles. It’s the last time I actually remember having them, because I’ve stuck to burgers ever since. Looking through recipes and comments that people are making I have the feeling that I’ve really been missing out. Time will tell. It’s on the project list with Fat Hen Soup and bubble and squeak (another retro project).

Finally, you may have noticed I’ve been a bit shaky on titles recently. Unfortunately I allowed a comment in my spam to get under my skin.

I read them because I’m always afraid that I’ll miss a proper comment. After reading just short of a thousand comments I’ve decided that I’m not reading them again. I can stomach the ones that clearly have no relation to anything, the ones that tell me how to steal content and the (often mis-spelt ones that offer to increase my search engine ranking). I even ignore the irritating one that tells me on a regular basis that my blogs would be improved by fewer typos and spelling mistakes. It’s true, I should iron out the typos, but I’m not going to let someone tell me this when they make more mistakes in their message than I do in a week.

However, I have allowed one to get to me. It criticised my titles, describing them as “vanilla”. Apart from the criticism, from someone who doesn’t appear to write a blog I’m still fuming at the use of the tern vanilla. Vanilla is a great flavouring with a long and excellent history, and shouldn’t be used as criticism by pipsqueak wannabe critics hiding behind the internet. Rant over. Just a mild one this time. However, it’s put me off my stroke with titles.

Does anyone else have this problem, either with titles or listening to criticism?